The  Fastest Trans-Erie Yacht Race Ever!  Out of the Log Book of the F-28, Big Storm  August 19-21, 2005 
 
Thursday Night, August 18, 2005
 
    Getting into the tight quarters at Grosse Ile Yacht Club with a multihull is tricky at best, so when I got there Thursday night, I found Big Storm comfortably rafted off our old friends from the east end of the lake, Beach Buoys.  Former multihull sailor, Dave Blake had his Beneteau 461 tied up, stern to, at the dock in front of the club, fully exposed to the strong southerly breeze as it funneled through the entry to the Detroit River. Big Storm was romping alongside. There was not a lot going on at the yacht club that night, so we spent a pleasant evening on board Dave's luxury yacht telling tall sea tales.  This boat was quite a different from his big racing cat, Taco the Town!  A sailor could get used to this!
 
Friday, August 19, 2005 - Race Day
 
    NOAA Weather Radio was predicting South West winds, 15-20 knots, going west and diminishing to 10-15 knots late. The shore offered us no protection as the strong southerly continued to blow. Big Storm tugged eagerly against the dock lines...she was ready to go!
 
    It was breakfast on our own, Friday morning, so Jim and I loaded two boat loads of hungry sailors in our van and transported them off the island to a Bob Evans.  We spent the remainder of the day prepping Big Storm for the battle ahead;  running the jacklines, hooking up the Lifesling, and the  preventers.  I whipped some halyards where they had rubbed a little too hard against the bottom or the top of the mast. I got the provisions on board, including ice. But, how do you provision for a 140nm race that, given the right wind, could be over quickly, in 17 hours, or, if the wind dies, could grind on until Sunday afternoon?  Last, but not least, I boiled water for the thermos bottles, so that the crew would have something hot to eat and drink in the wee hours of the morning, when the chief cook, that would be me, might be sleeping below.  As it turned out, sleep would not be an option.
 
    There was no room at the inn for the Newick Native 38, Alacrity.  Brian Thorpe anchored just outside Grosse Ile's narrow channel entrance.   Brian had just sailed in from Otter Creek.  He picked up two monohull sailors as crew for this race.  This was Barry and John's first race on a multihull. Barry volunteered to don his wetsuit and scrub the bottom.  Fantastic!
 
    Then along came a Whirlwind, Dave Walzer's Reynolds 33, to tie up alongside our F-28, with Mike Fahle on the helm.  Dave and son, John, and Steve Spitler completed the crew that sailed over from Toledo Beach Marina, just a little warm-up sail for the major event ahead.  We had seen a Reynolds 33 before at the Chicago Mac Race, at rest, on a dock, but to see it tied up next to Big Storm.....well it made our trimaran look puny by comparison! Sticking out at either end, it was a bit tricky tying the long cat to our tri.  The hulls reminded me of a Hobie 17, with a very low free board, fore and aft.  And that mast!  It towered over ours.  And two roller furling sails....The narrow beam and the mesh trampoline also reminded me of a beach cat. The Stiletto-like cabins were very narrow....not a place I'd want to be in a long distance heavy air race.  According to Mike Fahle, the manufacturers suggest you keep a Port-a-potty, one in each hull, as you don't want to be on the low side, using the lou, when you fly the hull, and you most certainly will....Fly the Hull. I would think that this boat would leave the crew very much exposed to the elements.  But, Mike assured us that the high "wings" work well as a back rest and protection against the wind and waves. Okay, if you say so.
 
    Meanwhile our crew, little Ricky Roten, and his First mate, Diane Roten were giving Mike Fahle and Steve Spitler the Razzmatazz about the likely hood of capsize in the heavy air.  Diane suggested that they get a Hobie Bob for the top of the mast, like the ones they have on the Hobie Wave catamaran.  Mike's last words as they shoved off Big Storm was, "Jim, if we capsize out there, will you come pick us up won't you?"  How prophetic was that? 
 
2:54PM:  Big Storm is off the "dock" at Grosse Ile Yacht Club and motoring into a strong southerly headwind.  Following Whirlwind's lead, we put up our main in the semi-protected lee of the west shore.  We watched with interest as the Reynolds 33 ahead bore off under mainsail alone and ripped through the marked channel towards the starting area at 18 knots, flying right past the Newick 38.....Whoa baby!
 
This was a bit depressing for Brian Thorpe, but he reminded himself that the Newick Native 38 weighs at least four times as much as the R-33, carries less sail area, is an older boat, designed and built in the mid 1970’s,
 
There were 46 boats registered for the race, with 7 classes:  Multihull, Single-handed, Doublehanded, PHRF  A, B, C and D.  Unlike the previous years, the Multihulls would have the first start, with 7 multihulls on the line.  Dave Walzer's Reynolds 33, Whirlwind, with a PHRF Handicap of -93, was favored to win the Mike's Hard Lemonade First to Finish Flag.  Patrick Quinn's Corsair F-31 Ultimate Cruiser, Try Again, (PHRF -15) was well provisioned with Dorkmunder Gold, just in case the race turned into a drifter. This would be Bill Tilley's first Trans-Erie Race on his cruise version, F-28R, Troika and for one of his crew, Larry Lang, this would be his first race on an F-Boat in these conditions.  This would be the 5th Trans-Erie Race for Jim Frederick and I on our Corsair F-28, Big Storm.   Jim Lyden and his brother Earl Lyden, returned to defend their First Place win from the previous year on their Corsair Formula F-27, Panacea.  These tough competitors beat us boat for boat in the 2004 race.  They would be double-handing again this race.  Jim and Earl had lunch just before leaving for the race and although they brought along their favorite peanut butter and jelly sandwich fixin's, they didn't know that this would be their last supper.  This would be Brian Thorpe's second Trans-Erie on his 1978 Newick Native 38 trimaran, Alacrity.   Brian beat us out of second place on corrected time the year before, so we would be keeping an eye on him as well. Last, but not least, Jerry Garner who has raced in many single-handed events, would be racing with a crew on his first Trans-Erie race on his F-27, Tri One.  Here's what I wrote in my logbook:
 
3:40PM:  Just 20 minutes before the start,  Tri One is hove to, waiting for the start, when the shackle which attaches the main sail tack to the boom, blows apart!  Jerry reattaches the sail to the boom with a padlock.  "it worked like a charm. " Jerry recalled.  Remind me to keep a padlock in the spare parts box, just in case.
 
3:55PM:  With just minutes before the start, we're still not sure what head sail we want to use for the downwind start.  It's really honking out on the open lake...it's blowing at least 20 knots and we're a little nervous about putting up our masthead chute in these conditions.  We have the screacher up and ready to go.
 
3:58PM:  We get the whomper up on deck, just in case and set up for the start at the leeward end.  There is only one way to go.  The entire fleet is queuing up for a downwind start on starboard.
 
4:00PM:  It's a wet and wild start with speeds in the teens.  The Reynolds 33, Whirlwind, with Mike Fahle on the helm, approaches the start line at midline for the perfect start.  Jim Lyden and  brother Earl are totally awesome right off the start, popping their chute early and by witness account, flying two of their three hulls as they cross the line at the RC boat. Patrick Quinn's Corsair F-31 Ultimate Cruiser, Try Again comes charging in to leeward, their crew screaming for room, forcing us to give them room at the pin end of the line.  They have a great start with boatspeed!  Troika, Alacrity and Tri One are all behind us. Troika starts with their screecher up.  
 
4:05PM:  Looking all around, I can see that Team Whirlwind took the conservative approach and starts with their screacher up, but I see chutes going up all around us!  We've already lost ground to the F-27, Panacea because we didn't have our chute up at the start.  We decide to put up our masthead chute, which we affectionately call  "The Whomper."  We carried it in 20-25 knots at the Chicago Mac Race, surely we can carry it now.  On board Troika, Bill Tilley puts the new guy, Larry Lang, on the helm while Bill and Gary set the chute.  Larry is intent on catching Big Storm.  It's 26.4nm to Pelee Point.
 
On board Alacrity, Brian Thorpe does not think he can fly his symmetrical spinnaker, so he sticks with jib and main for the first leg to Pelee Point.  Brian later recalls, "This was our undoing and set us back considerably as most of the other multis took off under asymmetricals.  At least we kept all the monos behind us." 
 
4:10PM:  Ahead, the Reynolds 33 with it's screacher up, and the Formula F-27 seem to be keeping pace with each other ahead.  The F-31UC, Try Again, and our closest competitor, F-28R, Troika, have their chutes up now and they bust a move passing us to weather. 
 
5:20PM:  On board Big Storm, Rick Roten plays the trim on the chute for maximum boatspeed as we surf the waves. We pass Troika back.  We can still make out the crisp white edge of the screacher on the Reynolds 33, barely visible on the horizon.  The wind and seas are building. 
 
5:30PM:  We're making some distance on Troika behind.  Our VMG is about 13.8 knots and our boatspeed is 14.  The F-31UC, Try Again and  the Formula F-27, Panacea, racing neck and neck,  are sailing a higher, faster course than we are, which is taking them off to the far right, towards Pelee Island.  We're satisfied to sail the rhumbline.
 
Patrick Quinn recalls that Dennis Carr was on the helm at the time.  "Here we are, 2 boats, sailing out in the middle of the lake by ourselves...we don't have enough boatspeed to pass them (Panacea) upwind, but we were so close, we almost ran over their sterns."   
 
5:40PM:  The F-31UC jibes to clear Pelee Island and crosses us about 1/2 mile ahead.  Troika, meanwhile has dropped back about 3/4 of a mile.  With our binoculars, we can barely make out the R-33 ahead, with their brightly colored chute up.  It's getting harder to find them on the horizon as they really take off on the fleet.  I figure that we won't see them again until we finish in Erie, PA.
 
5:53PM:  Panacea has now jibed across our bow on port tack.  We figure we are now 8 minutes behind the
F-27 as we steadily lose ground to the faster boat.. 
 
6:00PM:  Pelee Island is abeam and to starboard.  Panacea has jibed back to starboard and we are on converging courses as they sail high and we sail deep.  We're doing 15 knots plus as we enter Pelee Passage.  We set a new course of 87 degrees for Presque Isle Peninsula, some 114 nm east, but we can't sail nearly that deep.  We will be jibing downwind as the breeze shifts aft.  We take note that there is a large orange Coast Guard cutter tending buoys on the shipping channel.
  
6:50PM:  The F-31UC, Try Again, jibed away and we've lost sight of them as they head north towards the Canadian shore. Panacea is dead ahead.  Troika is losing ground behind and the Reynolds 33, Whirlwind ahead is long gone. 
 
Team Alacrity launches their symmetrical chute at Pelee and never looks back. For hours, they clock steady speeds in the 10 to 15 range with a maximum of 17.
 
7:18PM:  We're cruising along at 16 knots and hitting 17.5knots in the puffs.  Our ETA to Erie is 7:05 AM , but the breeze is shifting aft and we're getting dragged away from the rhumbline.  Jibe Ho!
 
7:40PM:  Our VMG on port tack is 11.6 knots and our ETA has dropped to 8:12 AM.  The breeze has lightened up a bit and shifted west.   We're beginning to think that NOAA was right in their prediction, that the big breeze is over and we will only get 10 -15 knots for the rest of the night. ...we hope that we get that much!
 
8:10PM:  The sun is setting behind the clouds.  Our boatspeed is 8.7 knots and our VMG is 7.6. 
 
8:54PM:  A favorable shift to the northwest heads us down to the rhumbline on port tack.  Our boatspeed is 10.4kts and our VMG is 10.2. and the breeze has picked up a bit too.  We can not see the moon for the clouds.
 
10:17PM:  I had just laid down for a nap when we encounter a shift which was taking us southward to Painesville. There's too much breeze to carry the big chute on a reach.  We need the screacher to sail the rhumbline. So, we douse the chute and run JAM until we can get the screacher up and running.  Meanwhile, the F-28R, Troika is still able to carry their chute and they are gaining on us.  By the time we get the screacher set, the shift had passed and we are going slow.  Our big chute is in a cluster-fuck down below and our other spin halyard is fouled on the deck light. We struggle with this for about an hour before we get the small chute launched.  Meanwhile, our nemesis, Troika takes advantage of the situation and passes us to weather.
 
During that same shift, Jim and Earl Lyden on Panacea, choose to sail low of rhumb thinking that they will get lifted back (which they did, and then some) or that when a decision to change sails is absolutely necessary, because they are about to hit land, that they will have a better angle with the screacher.....and they believe that most of the class is still to their south and this will provide a better covering position.

Saturday, August 20, 2005 - The Big Wave

12:11AM:  It's a glorious moonlit night and visibility is excellent for surfing the waves and reading sails.  We're making 15 knots plus with our small chute and we're catching Troika to leeward once again.  Rick is on the spinnaker sheet and Jim is on the helm.  They have this game they are playing. Rick tells Jim things to make him mad, and then Jim gets mad and sails the boat faster.  Rick would say things like, "Hey Jim, you know what, you're an asshole!"  Then Jim would respond, "I'm really mad now!" and he would sail the boat ever faster. 
 
1:15AM:  Wind and seas are building.  We're sailing the rhumbline at 16 knots plus, surfing waves, chute drawing well, but we're sailing very deep, on the verge of a jibe.  If we heat it up, we could wind up on our ear in the steep waves.  With 43.3nm to go, we can't see Troika anymore.  I'm trying to get some sleep down below when I hear both the guys say, in unison, "AH OH!!!!"  I can tell by the sound of the water on the hull, that we're surfing a wave.  I dive for the GPS to get a speed reading....18.8 knots.  All they can see is a wall of water in front of the boat, that reaches half way up Big Storm's mast.  Rick thinks to himself, "Should I release the sheet?"  "No. "  Jim's  thinking that  Big Storm is going to dive into the back of the wave, but the buoyancy of her bows carry her up and over the rogue wave and surfing into the next.  No problem!
 
On board Panacea, Jim and Earl record top speeds in the 19 knot range and for a few hours in the middle of the night, they average over 14kts (based on distance to go on the hour).  During the heaviest breezes, (they guess they saw 25kt peaks), they handhold the spin sheet but for most of the race, they keep it cleated.
 
1:30AM:  Under spinnaker, the F-31UC, Try Again is running haltingly downwind at about 14 knots, surfing down one wave and punching into the next.  They are just off Ashtabula when the spin halyard sheers off at the sheave.  The crew works feverishly to drag the wet chute back on board with out tearing.  They deploy the screacher, but are resigned to jibing downwind for the remainder of the race.
 
Jerry Garner recalls that between his two crew, Bob Whistler, who can't see to helm at night, and Gary Goti, who did not have the experience to helm the boat in the building wind and sea conditions, that, for the most part, he was left to helm the boat himself.  Jerry described sailing dead down with the chute up as "thrilling."  Eventually, Team Tri One puts a reef in the main so the skipper can sleep. Unfortunately, this results in a tear in the main.
 
On board Alacrity, they settle into their routine with crew rotations.  They could see a boat a couple of miles tailing them most of the night, but they lose sight of them as the wind increases.  At one point, their ETA is about 4 am and they're beginning to think they can break the record.  Just as they are feeling optimistic about how they are making up for lost time, they blow the snap shackle on the spinnaker guy.  Brian takes this as a warning that they are carrying too much sail.  They get the chute down on deck. 
 
1:45AM:  This is turning out to be a really wet ride!  We're taking waves over the cabin top and the rear ama is also catching the waves and throwing the water forward into the cabin.  The guys need a warm-up, so i make them some soup from the water in the thermos bottles.
 
1:55AM:  It's settled down a bit.  The waves are a bit smaller.  The breeze is less. We're doing 9 -11 knots.
 
3:20AM:  I take my turn at the helm so that Jim can take a break.  He's taken a chill.  The breeze has slackened and we're down to 5 knots boatspeed.  Rick is dozing on the trampoline.  We've got 26.6 nautical miles to go. 
 
5:05AM:  Jim takes over the helm. There's a tad more breeze.  We're averaging 6-8 knots.  16.7nm to go.
 
630AM:  Just off Presque Ile Peninsula, we jibe to cover Troika as they head into shore.  We've go to stay between them and the mark.  Meanwhile, Jim Lyden and Brother Earl also encounter light and fluky winds for the last few miles of their race. They try to raise the Race Committee on the cell phone but they can't get an answer.  
 
6:44:15AM:  There is no committee boat on station.  Team Panacea records their own finish time at the mark.  They benefit by spending less time in the light air conditions than the rest of the fleet.
 
7:05AM:  Troika jibes and gets an hour glass in their chute.  We jibe to cover. We see some weather forming on shore.  Maybe we'll find more breeze there! Troika takes another hitch in.  We wait for the right shift and take a hitch in to cover.  We've got less than 5 knots of breeze near shore and it's shifty. I take over the helm as Jim can't follow the 30-50 degree shifts.  Sometimes we're running parallel to shore and sometimes were headed right at it.
 
With only 26 miles to their finish, Team Alacrity encounters the same light breeze.  No matter what they do, the crew cannot get their heavy old boat in gear again.  The last 7 hours are agonizing as they are overtaken by the Henderson 30 and the Hobie 33. 
 
7:41AM:  Try Again, the F-31UC takes their own time at the finish.  There are a few less Dortmunders on board at the end of the race.
 
9:15AM:  I wake Jim up and call for the GPS and depth sounder to be turned on.  Troika bails out and heads for deeper water. We sail up around the point, finding good water depth close in to shore.  We trim in the chute for a tight reach in to our finish mark, R"2". 
 
9:41:43AM:  Onboard our F-28 Big Storm, we take our own finish time at the mark.
 
9:56:05AM:  We take Troika's finish time at the mark. 
 
10:35 AM:  We motor the length of Presque Ile Bay, fully expecting to see the Reynolds 33 tied up in front of the Erie Yacht Club when we dock.  Erie YC is hosting a huge junior regatta with at least three fleets racing on the bay.  We are intercepted by a Park McRitchie who is driving one of the small power boats.  He tells us the shocking news about the capsize of Whirlwind.  Mike contact Park by cell phone.  The capsize occurred some time around 7:40PM.  They had been picked up by the Coast Guard some two hours later and all was well.  For all the kidding at the dock before the race, we had not really expected this news.  We never saw the capsized boat.  With it's low freeboard, there wouldn't be much to see.  But we still felt bad.  
 
We later learned Team Alacrity was monitoring the marine radio during the race and they could hear the Coast Guard Cutter, as they tried to locate the overturned Reynolds Cat.  They also picked up calls from Whirlwind, but they could not see them on the water. Brian knew they were close by and he worried that they might run them over in the dark. Once the Coast Guard cutter was on the scene, Brian knew that they would not need to initiate a search and rescue.  We, on the other hand, do not hear anything on the radio and totally unaware of their plight.
 
By the time we tie up at the dock at EYC, Jim and Earl Lyden have already derigged the Panacea and are ready to pull out of the parking lot. In the end, Jim drove the boat for all but about a half hour of the race.  Earl got maybe an hour or two of sleep below at about 4am, when the winds had settled.  Jim's not positive, but he thinks he wore his shorts all night.  With the warm water and warm temperatures throughout the night, and the full moon overhead, Jim cannot remember a nicer night of sailing.
 
12:44:31PM:  The top monohull in the PHRF A fleet, Kevin Lemond's Henderson 30, Say Uncle, crosses the finish line.  They report a top speed of 18.4 knots.  But there is no breeze out on the lake now. The fastest Trans-Erie Yacht Race in history has turned into a drifter! 
 
2:19:39PM:  For all the frustration and disappointment, Brian Thorpe's Newick Native  38, Alacrity is still the 6th boat across the line.
 
4:56:23PM:  Steven Attard's Hobie 33, Viva Las Vegas is 7th across the line.
 
5:24:37PM: Jerry Garner's F-27, Tri One is the last multihull across the finish line.  The last monohull crosses the line some 6 hours later. 
 
Sunday, August 21, 2005 - Trophies
 
    Awards followed a lovely Champagne Brunch at EYC.  Each skipper received a handmade participation plaque and a bottle of champagne.  The 3 foot by 7 foot Trans-Erie Yacht Race Flags, bearing the image of Lake Erie with the race course sewn on it, were awarded to each of the first three places finishers in their class. 
   
    Jim and Earl Lyden topped the multihull division and set an elapsed time record of 14:44:15 on Jim's Corsair Formula F-27, Panacea, thus earning the Mike's Hard Lemonade First to Finish Flag. The previous west-to-east record of 15:54.30 was set by Earth Voyager, Ryan Howe's Formula 60 trimaran, in 2003.  Team Panacea placed First in the Multihull Fleet, with a corrected time of 13:13:15.     In Second Place was the Corsair F-31 UC, Try Again with skipper, Patrick Quinn and his crew, David White and Dennis Carr, with a corrected time of 16:16:00.  Patrick was tickled pink that he beat out the Trans-Erie "veterans" Jim Frederick and Deb Schaefer by a mere 1 minute 43 seconds.   In Third Place was Jim Frederick and Team Big Storm finishing with a corrected time of 16:17:43.
 
Check out the Trans-Erie website for more complete results and photos at www.transerie.com